Thank you, dear Smashing readers, for your support — it means the world to us. On behalf of the entire Smashing Magazine team, we wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014. Let it be the best year of your life. — Ed.

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one—desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for over five years now1, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.

This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for January 2014. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!

Please note that:

All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,

You can feature your work in our magazine2 by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

Smashing New Year

“2014 is here! Wish you all amazing new year.” — Designed by Matej Pindroch3 from Slovakia.

Keep Warm & Snuggle Up

“January is one of the coldest months of the year so designed a calendar that might inspire you to keep warm and snuggle up with a nice cup of hot chocolate, coffee, or tea… you choose!” — Designed by Jorden Campbell33 from New Hampshire, USA.

Abstract Winter

“January is a cold and dark month up here in the north. A month to cuddle up in the warmth inside, light some candles and hang out with family while avoiding the bitter cold and snow outside. This is my attempt at an abstract interpretation of this chilly time of year.” — Designed by Terese Brännström263 from Sweden.

After Holidays

“I often use wallpapers for my desktop from your web site and really wanted to participate. My muse was the future Christmas holidays and what left after them. Hope to like my wallpaper and use it with smile :)” — Designed by Militsa Mokanova402 from Bulgaria.

New Year It Is!

“This is the time to take a step forward, which will lead you to new adventures, new roads to explore and new success to reach. Its the time to forget the bad, remember the good, to not repeat the mistakes, to not hurt anyone. Let everyone’s life keep lighting up like fireworks, be away from darkness and take them higher. Happy New Year to all.” — Designed by Smita Dessai538 from Goa,India.

Wake Me Up When Spring Arrives

“Last year was the sad time for me. I lost my grandfather and I lost a long time to forget a wonderfull boy who I love. So In the new year I wish I’ll stronger as a flower sleep throughout the winter, wait spring to bloom.” — Designed by Nguyet Tran Thi Anh639 from Việt Nam.

Warli Art

“The Warlis are an indigenous tribe or Adivasis, living in Mountainous as well as coastal areas of Maharashtra-Gujarat border and surrounding areas.They have their own animistic beliefs,life,customs and traditions,as a result of acculturation they have adopted many Hindu beliefs.” — Designed by Sacchidanand Chavan668 from India.

Happy New Year! Cheers!

“Each year is another opportunity for us to start it with a BANG and a fresh opportunity at our dreams and New Year’s resolution. Our team used this as our theme for designing this wallpaper. Enjoy!” — Designed by Cliff Almeida738 from Phoenix, Arizona.

A Winter Walk

“I remember times being very windy in January. Not only because of the backlash of Christmas food and New Years eve’s casserole, but also due to big drafts waiting at the train station.” — Designed by Tom Moore781 from Belgium.

Sledding Snowman

“I stumbled upon some Calvin and Hobbes cartoons about winter, and they inspired me for this wallpaper. We aren’t the only ones having fun during winter! Snowmen are entitled to winter fun too! I wonder where he’ll land…?” — Designed by Pieter Van der Elst810 from Belgium.

Join In Next Month!

Please note that we respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

The Smashing team loves high-quality content and cares about the little details. Through our online articles, Smashing Books, eBooks as well as Smashing Conferences, we are committed to stimulating creativity and strengthening the web design community’s creative forces.

laltu

Teresa

I love your calendars – have been using them as my background for nearly 3 years now
however I do not like the fact that they are not all compatible with my resolution (1440 x 900) so sometimes I do not get to use my favorite:(

truthkim

Gerardo

I really like the “Abstract Winter” and I´m using it on my facebook cover. Congratulations, Terese Brännström. I wanted to congratulate you via twitter but I couldn´t found you. (hope you read this comment) Greetings from Mexico

Luke_lew

Silkea

Happy new year to all of you!
Glad that this is an ongoing project. I’m looking forward every month to a new wallpaper. This month I’m a bit sad, because I loved the december one so much. My favourites are Smashing New Year and Be Awesome Today.

Luce

Agapi

Happy new year to all of us! All the wallparers are super! I like most the “Rocky Mountain Winter”, – it’s really winter theme and I also like the “Have a Smasing New Year 2014″!!! Best wishes for 2014! Agapi from Greece

eli

Stephanie

I have been downloading these wallpapers for the past few years — just wanted to request that this month to month new wallpaper never stops! I enjoy updating my desktop wallpaper every month, keeps things fresh! Thank you.

Leave a Comment

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic! Please keep in mind that comments are moderated and rel="nofollow" is in use. So, please do not use a spammy keyword or a domain as your name, or else it will be deleted. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation instead. Thanks for dropping by!

Subscribe to our email newsletter for useful tips and valuable resources, sent out every second Tuesday.

It's finally here. Smashing Book #5, our new book on real-life responsive design. With front-end techniques and patterns from actual projects, it's a playbook to master all the tricky facets and hurdles of responsive design. Get the book.Free shipping.

Fixing RWD issues can be quite easy — once you understand exactly why they come up. The Mobile Web Handbook will help you understand technical issues on mobile and how to deal with them effectively.

Hungry for more content? Over 60 eBooks are waiting to be discovered in our lovely Smashing Library. And guess what? You can watch Smashing Conference talks there, too.